Carriers for supporting bicycles on a vehicle for transportation of the bicycles are well known. There have been proposals for carriers that are mounted on the rear bumper of automobiles, others for mounting on the front bumper of automobiles and still others for mounting on the rear bumper of recreational vehicles. There have also been proposals for carriers that mount on trailer hitches.
Such prior proposals have been designed for specific application and specific mounting because the mounting requirements for each are different. For example, some of these proposals are adapted for mounting on so-called tongue hitches while others are adapted for mounting on receiver hitches.
A so-called tongue hitch will typically be a relatively flat apertured plate. A ball for towing a trailer will be secured to the tongue by inserting a stud connected to the ball through the aperture of the plate and securing it in place with a nut. A receiver hitch by contrast has a rearwardly projecting rectangular tube that is usually square. A tube carrying a ball is selectively placed in telescopic relationship with the rearwardly projecting tube and held in place by a suitable pin.
In addition to the variables in mounting, the elevation of the transported bicycles above the carrier mounting is a variable. For example if a bicycle is mounted on the front bumper of a vehicle a relatively low elevation with respect to the bumper is required so that the driver of the vehicle will not have a bicycle obstructed view. If the carrier is mounted on a trailer hitch or a rear bumper of an automobile the elevation above the mounting should be somewhat higher than a front bumper mounted bicycle so that the bicycles will clear the ground when transported over uneven terrain, up ramps and the like.
When bicycles are mounted on a recreational vehicle the elevation of the bicycles above the mounting typically should be even higher than when mounted on the rear bumper or trailer hitch of an automobile. The reason is that recreational vehicles tend to have substantial rearward overhangs and rear clearance can become a problem when the recreational vehicle negotiates such things as a ramp into a service station.
While there have been proposals, as we have indicated, for mounting bicycle and other equipment carriers to front and rear bumpers of both automobiles and recreational vehicles and others for connection to either a tongue or a receiver type trailer hitch, each of these proposals has been especially configured for a specific type of installation.